tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post5700847607100390526..comments2023-08-15T05:06:03.233-06:00Comments on The Writing Sisterhood: The Power of the Public DomainThe Sisterhoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889577041903181315noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-69988801418695512872012-04-13T07:34:45.454-06:002012-04-13T07:34:45.454-06:00Michael, Very interesting that you mention Steambo...Michael, Very interesting that you mention Steamboat Willie. I checked out the battle over copyright and public domain when it comes to the mouse and if anyone's interested in reading an article on it, check out this link here:<br /><br />http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/22/business/fi-mickey22<br /><br />It seems there's a big brouhaha over imprecise copyright claims when the original Micky Mouse came out in the twenties. I guess what it boils down to is whether proper copyright rules over how he was originally copyrighted were followed and properly filed. As to Disney, the article doesn't believe that if anyone tried to use Mickey's image that Disney wouldn't come out fighting mad. Just goes to show that you have to be careful about your copyright and make sure you're following the exact rules if you don't want someone else capitalizing on your product.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing this!Mary Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09429769115085903305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-74857698246162535182012-04-11T09:54:19.933-06:002012-04-11T09:54:19.933-06:00Mary, this is a great post on public domain. I had...Mary, this is a great post on public domain. I had always wondered what it meant. I read somewhere that Walt Disney keeps renewing/suing to renew the copyright on Steamboat Willy and because of their efforts, it also renews similar types of copyrights like those surrounding the Lord of the Rings (so that those estates don't ever have to do anything). I think that's kind of funny.Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-68038018223872199592012-04-10T08:11:26.633-06:002012-04-10T08:11:26.633-06:00I'm a little embarrassed to say I had never he...I'm a little embarrassed to say I had never heard of the public domain...until today. That is awesome. Thanks for the heads up!Deanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17958057331230037880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-4142495989823716472012-04-09T19:36:04.060-06:002012-04-09T19:36:04.060-06:00What really got me interested in the public domain...What really got me interested in the public domain was an article I read about a year ago. In it, they spoke about all the fairytale classics and why there are so many derivatives out there for these tales. Almost any classic fairytale you can think of is in the public domain. And so I did a little digging and found that there are tons of things in the public domain and they're there waiting for anybody to come along and use. As we've heard many times over and over again, "Nothing new ever gets written," because basically it's all been told in some format time and time again. What I find fascinating are some of the stranger rewrites of things, like "Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies." It's amazing what people come up with!Mary Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09429769115085903305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-66949198379688120962012-04-09T19:31:31.751-06:002012-04-09T19:31:31.751-06:00No, I've never tried Gutenberg but I have hear...No, I've never tried Gutenberg but I have heard a lot about it. I'll tuck it away in my bookmarks and put it to use. Thanks for passing it along, Regis!Mary Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09429769115085903305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-41101048156015975822012-04-09T19:16:01.675-06:002012-04-09T19:16:01.675-06:00Interesting information, Sister Mary.
It's al...Interesting information, Sister Mary.<br /><br />It's always fun to rethink the classics or what could happen after our favorite novels are over. I once participated in a blog contest where we had to write a proposal for a sequel to GWTW and I won! The price was a manuscript critique from a professional editor. It was great! But going back to the subject, no wonder fairy tales are redone a thousand times. I just saw the latest (and very PC) rendition of Snow White (Mirror, Mirror).Lorenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17848249911635132594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-66081278279164683092012-04-09T15:17:09.313-06:002012-04-09T15:17:09.313-06:00I use Gutenberg a lot. Mainly to sample the writin...I use Gutenberg a lot. Mainly to sample the writing of older authors. I got a good idea about a different first few paragraphs of my present book, by sampling Dickens. The changes in style, vocabulary and even syntax over the last 200 years are interesting. If you use Gutenberg, I recommend:<br /> http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/ There is another E address, but it takes longer to get to the direct download page. Regis<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />;Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-17117988676617469102012-04-09T07:48:49.527-06:002012-04-09T07:48:49.527-06:00I hadn't thought of the public domain this way...I hadn't thought of the public domain this way, either! How interesting. I'd only thought of it as "books I can get for free." :) I've downloaded to my e-reader every 19th century novel I can think I'd want to read, and my husband has downloaded virtually all the philosophy classics. But what hadn't occurred to me is the possibility of riffing off such classics for my own tale. Mostly when I see classics redone, it's Shakespeare, and it's modernized so the settings and characters names are changed: Hamlet becomes "The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle," and King Lear becomes "A Thousand Acres." I've been thinking of doing that, but now that you mention it, it would be fun to play with some of the 19th-century novels I love, keeping the names and milieus generally.<br /><br />Is the idea with public domain that you can write sequels (what happens next) or that you can write the whole thing over again the way you want it? I love Violante's idea of redoing Little Women with Beth as a more developed character. I'd like to redo Wuthering Heights: love the story, do not love how it's semi-epistolary, with the housekeeper telling the story to a lodger. <br /><br />Wouldn't it be fun to write Great Expectations from Estella's point of view? I think redoing classics from the female's POV would be fun generally: women obviously got short shrift in so many classic novels, and were plot devices more than characters.Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02187854108656107958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-25192373280376869652012-04-08T14:56:26.598-06:002012-04-08T14:56:26.598-06:00This is fascinating, I handn't realize that th...This is fascinating, I handn't realize that this use and abuse of Jane Austen texts was linked to public domain.<br /><br />So I could use lirics of any song that was written prior to 1924? Cool!<br /><br />Thank Heavens for Wikipedia, but is there any similar database carrying visual material that is public domain?<br /><br />I have, in the past rewritten two so-called classics, just for the heck of it. In a writing workshop, my students and I rewrote the end of GWTW (which of couse is not PD) and had Rhett and Melanie eloping together! <br /><br />But Little Women is PD, and I would love to rewrite it, making Beth a much more important character, and having her marry Laurie and at least have a baby before her death. I also rewrote Stendhal´s The Red and the Black and gave it a happy ending. <br /><br />Ohh, and I would love to rewrite Ivanhoe and either have Ivanhoe flee England with Rebecca, or have her fall in love with Sir Brian who redeems himself at the end. Wow, Sister Mary, Mary, your game´s possibilities are endless.Violantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02800111423488923625noreply@blogger.com